


matters of the heart

by A_Confused_Kitten



Series: head over heart [2]
Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: 500 Words Challenge, Angst, Athos | Comte de la Fère Angst, Episode: s01e03 Commodities, Falling In Love, Gay, M/M, POV Athos | Comte de la Fère, The fire scene, d'artagnan is soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29015592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Confused_Kitten/pseuds/A_Confused_Kitten
Summary: Love is like a candle, he thinks, breath life into it, and the flame shall live. Try and douse the fires, and it bursts, taking you down with it.~~In which, his former life burns down around him, and Athos thinks about the people who've claimed his heart.
Relationships: d'Artagnan/Athos | Comte de la Fère
Series: head over heart [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2143221
Comments: 9
Kudos: 19





	matters of the heart

Athos has known love before.

It was his mother’s gentle hands as she straightened his collar, or his father’s proud grin the first time he held a sword. It was the way his heart soared when he first saw Thomas, back when he was small and fragile and young, and the way he smiled when Thomas called his name.

Maybe, once upon a time, it was pale blue petals, soft and delicate and _beautiful._ A symbol of love and a symbol of truth.

 _Love is like a candle,_ he thinks, _breath life into it, and the flame shall live. Try and douse the fires, and it bursts, taking you down with it._

And isn’t that true? Around him, his former life burns down.

 _“Athos!”_ He hears d’Artagnan shouting, but Athos doesn't respond, because she’s _alive._

Fire dances around him, nimble fingers setting fire to everything he once held dear, but he can’t bring himself to care. Drunk on memories and high on regrets, and while the world may be burning, Athos is drowning under the weight of it all.

He’s lost in the memories of a spring afternoon, of a gentle breeze and that tragic smile, of forget-me-nots thrown to the wind, of _her._ His wife, beautiful and cruel, and him, looking away because he didn’t want to watch the light fade from brilliant eyes-

“Athos!” d’Artagnan calls, and when did he get here? When had his shouts gone from distant to close, close enough for Athos to feel his breath on his face, to see each color in those dark, dark eyes. Eyes just as brilliant as Anne’s, and yet, so achingly different.

For Anne’s eyes never showed even a fraction of the warmth in d’Artagnan’s.

Maybe love is the careful way d’Artagnan pulls him away from the flames, the gentleness as he cleans the ashes off his face. It’s the warm feeling deep within his chest, and how every breath seems easier, lighter in a way that Athos can’t describe.

And the story spills from his lips like smoke from the fires.

“You’re the only one who knows this,” he says, d’Artagnan grabs his hand, holds it tight.

“Thank you,” d’Artagnan whispers, his voice soft, softer than Athos has ever heard it. “Athos, _thank you,_ I will guard your secrets with my life, I swear it.”

There are so many things he wants to say, _needs_ to say.

He wants to say _don’t give up your life for me, because I cannot bear to lose anyone else._ To say _I trust you more than anything in this world, d’Artagnan._ More than anything, he wants to say, _I think I’m falling for you, my friend, like I’ve fallen for no other person in this damned world._

Because love is something that you give and take with every breath, that whispers with every word you speak, because the heart knows what it wants, and out of all the people in the world, d’Artagnan is the one he trusts with it.

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! I'm once again challenging myself to more 500 word fics, so this may end up as part of a series, similar to my Lee Scoresby one. This one would *probably* be more episode tags rather than me bs-ing about pre-canon though. xD
> 
> Anyways, this one is at least partially inspired by Eli, Chaos, and Red Willows on discord, and we'd love ta have ya join us and yell about the Musketeers. Granted, if that happens we might need to make a server instead of a group chat-
> 
> More comments = more consistent posting. ;3  
> Cheshire #1847


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